.. Kotoko draw with 10-men
Ethiopia's St George added to the continuing shocks in this year's African Champions League, thumping former winners Hearts of Oak 4-0 in Sunday's second round, first leg encounter in Addis Ababa.

A hat-trick from Dawit Mebratu ensured a runway triumph for the Ethiopian club.

St George had caused a stir in the first round last month with their 1-0 aggregate victory over the Egyptian club ENPPI.

Asante Kotoko of Ghana were down to 10 men in the second half of their clash with Ferroviario Maputo in Mozambique but still came away with a goalless draw to set themselves up for success in the return leg in a fortnight's time.

The four-goal win was battered by South Africa's Orlando Pirates, who won 5-0 away at AS Port Louis 2000 of Mauritius in their second round, first leg encounter.

Democratic Republic of Congo striker Blaise Lelo Mbele scored twice as Pirates matched their achievement of the first round when they beat opponents from Swaziland by the same score away from home.

Pirates are among nine former winners in this year's Champions League field, who met with contrasting fortunes at the weekend.

On Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT), holders Al Ahli of Egypt and the side they beat in last year's final, Etoile Sahel of Tunisia, both won 2-0 away in east Africa.

Emad Moteab scored both goals for Al Ahli in an easy triumph at Tusker FC of Kenya while Etoile Sahel scored twice in two minutes spell midway through the first half for a similar triumph at AS Polisi in Zanzibar.

ASEC Abidjan, who won the continent's top club title in 1998, were 3-0 winners over Civics in the Ivory Coast capital on Sunday (Monday morning AEDT), but only got two goals late in the game against the Namibian side, who had caused a first round upset with victory over the Angola champions Sagrada Esperanca.

Royal Armed Forces of Morocco suffered a 2-1 defeat in Kigali to Rwanda's military team APR FC while two-time African champions JS Kabylie lost 1-0 at ZANACO of Zambia where Ignatius Lwipa scored a 16th minute goal.

Raja Casablanca, heavily fancied this year, needed a last minute goal from Mustapha Bidoudane to beat CAPS United of Zimbabwe 1-0 at home on Saturday in a match that kicked off at 9pm because of the late arrival in Morocco of the visitors.